Breaking News / Tory Hargro, USA TODAY

by Olga Rudenko and Jacob Resneck, Special for USA TODAY

by Olga Rudenko and Jacob Resneck, Special for USA TODAY

KIEV, Ukraine - Protesters were pleased over the surprise sick leave taken Thursday by Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych but suspicious of what it might mean.

"It may be a trick to relieve him of the responsibility in case there is a use of force scenario (against protesters)," said Yuriy Romanenko, director of Kyiv-based center for political analysis, Stratagema.

The presidential palace issued a statement on Thursday that Yanukovych would be taking leave although it did not say how long he would be away or whether he would do any work during the period.

"The president of Ukraine is on sick leave due to acute respiratory disease accompanied by fever," the deputy head of the State Affairs Department on Medical Issues, Oleksandr Orda, said in the brief statement Thursday.

Yanukovych has come under increasing pressure since protests began in late November, with hundreds of thousands taking to the street to demonstrate against his decision to reject a long-planned political and economic treaty with the European Union.

Ukraine, the second-largest country in Europe, became independent of the former Communist Soviet Union in the 1990s and the demonstrators want the country to continue toward a democratic path aligned with Europe. But Yanukovych has leaned toward Moscow and accepted a bailout and gas delivery package from Russian President Vladimir Putin rather than strengthen ties with Europe.

The EU treaty was opposed by Putin, who has been pressuring Ukraine to align itself with Russia.

In a bid to end the protests this week, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov submitted his resignation. But protesters were unsatisfied with the move and have called for the resignation of Yanukovych, as well as new elections and political changes.

The protests had remained largely peaceful but turned violent last week as protesters clashed with police, leading to at least three deaths, according to police, although others say the toll is higher.

"Unfortunately in the last two months, only violence has helped us get any concessions out of Yanukovych," said Oleskandr Gor, 33, a protester living in Kiev. "But that's the reality."

Still, lawmakers on Wednesday agreed to grant amnesty to protesters, who have already been arrested, but only if demonstrators agreed to abandon the barricades that dot the city and evacuate the buildings they have occupied. They have 15 days to do so.

Currently, protesters hold city hall and an agricultural ministry in Kiev and a number of governor's offices in the western regions.

Protesters said they don't support the amnesty law.

"This is not a law and this is not an amnesty â?? amnesty shouldn't be based on any conditions and when it is, it's simply bargaining," said Oleksiy Tykhonenko, 27, a protester in Kiev. "There is no guarantee that amnesty will really come into force after the buildings are vacated."

On Thursday, there were no signs of retreat by protesters from the occupied buildings or the protest camp in central Kiev.

"No one will leave the streets," Tykhonenko said.

Analysts, meanwhile, say support for the embattled president has been dropping across the country in recent days.

"I have a feeling that it is diminishing every day," said Kateryna Zarembo, deputy director of the Institute of World Policy, a pro-Western think-tank in Kiev. "I really wouldn't say anything about grass-root support (for the government) now. I really think that protests have captured the national imagination in many ways."